1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact set for connection socket
2. Background of the Invention
The current state of knowledge is as follows.
Contact sets for connection sockets, particularly for RJ45-sockets, are known for various transmission capacities. In order to describe the capacity of electronic components they are classified in categories. Presently common categories are Cat-5, which is defined for operating frequencies up to 100 MHz, Cat-6, which is defined for operating frequencies up to 250 MHZ, or Cat-6A, which is designed for transmission frequencies up to 500 MHz and distances up to 100 m. It is quite possible that in the future electronic components will become common with even better transmission features.
In order for cables or sockets to yield transmission features according to a certain category, it is demanded that the near end cross talk (NEXT for short) is suppressed to a certain extent. For this purpose it is known to provide compensation circuits which reduce or suppress said near end cross talk.
In order to yield the transmission features of category 6a for a connection socket it has shown that it is beneficial to place a compensation of the near end cross talk as closely as possible near the contact site between the socket and a plug inserted into said socket.
For this purpose, EP 1 306 934 B1 provides a socket fastened on a motherboard, with a compensation circuit board being arranged within the accepting element of a socket, which includes a compensation circuit for reducing disturbing interferences, particularly near end cross talk, and with contact elements being fastened thereat, connected to an inserted plug, with the motherboard comprising an additional compensation circuit to prevent disturbing interferences.
In order to place a compensation circuit even closer to the contact site between the plug and the socket, EP 1 858 118 A1 discloses a socket with a contact set, which comprises several contact elements, with at the free ends of the contact elements, which project into the interior of the socket in which the plug is inserted, a compensation circuit is arranged, for example in the form of a flexible substrate with a compensation circuit.
WO 0180376 A1 discloses a compensation circuit board arranged in the housing of the socket, elastically contacted by the free ends of the contact elements, which are fastened with their other end at a circuit board.
For many applications a connection socket is desired, showing optimal transmission features and thus fulfilling the features of a category as high as possible. However, with rising transmission capacities in general the production costs of the sockets increase so that sockets of a lower category are sufficient for certain applications.
Accordingly, many discussions have been conducted in order to embody a connection socket such that the transmission features of the socket can easily be alternated between two categories.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,256 shows a connection socket with a contact set comprising several contact elements, with a compensation circuit board being arranged fixed in said connection socket and, optionally the contact elements do or do not contact the compensation circuit board, so that, depending on the selection, here the compensation circuit board with the compensation can be connected or disconnected, in order to switch between different transmission capacities.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,568 discloses a compensation circuit board arranged in a displaceable fashion in the housing of the connection socket, with the compensation being connected or disconnected depending on the positioning of the compensation circuit board. In the solutions according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,256 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,568 it is disadvantageous that in every socket all components for the desired higher category need to be already provided, which leads to high production costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,722, which is the starting point of the present invention, discloses a connection socket that can be retrofitted, in which a compensation circuit board can be inserted between the contact elements of the contact set and a part of the housing wall. When the compensation circuit board is inserted, additional measures need to be taken so that the compensation circuit board cannot fall out of the socket.
The objective of the invention therefore comprises to provide a contact set for a connection socket, which can be produced with low manufacturing costs and in which retrofitting from one transmission capacity to another transmission capacity can occur in a simple fashion.